The Bear

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

December 25, 1992

CHRISTMAS IN 1986 was a cold morning; we were hunting in the Ocala Forest. It was early, and we had just put out the dogs in a block of woods called Gobler Bay.

It wasn't too long after that, that one of them jumped. One of the guys in our group got on the radio and said, ''He's headed for the Blue Creek Road.'' My dad and I rode around there and pulled off the road about 50 steps away from the curve. Just after we stopped, I saw something black go by on a fire trail. I thought it was one of the dogs, since two of the four we put out were black-and-tans.

I jumped out of the truck and was going to cut it off on the curve. Just before I got there, a 500-pound black bear ran out onto the road right there. I stopped dead in my tracks and suddenly felt the urge to go to the bathroom, but instead I turned around and ran back to the truck. I jumped up on the hood, crawled over the top of the cab, and crawled in the back window. The bear started running as soon as I did, and just when I got back in the seat of the truck, the dog came out right behind him, but this time I made my dad go and get him.

My dad caught the dog, but there were still three left in the woods, and they were running a deer just up the road from us. We turned around and went back up the road to a place called the ''Big Hill.'' As soon as we got there, a five-point ran out in front of us and my dad got out and shot it before I could ever get out of the truck.